North Canberra-Gungahlin sprung an opening-round upset of Eastlake on Saturday after Kingston Oval defied heavy recent rain to usher in the new summer of cricket.
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Veteran Trevor Power's masterful 68 from 85 balls anchored his side's 192 through 48.3 overs, before Eastlake managed just 147 in reply thanks largely to four scalps from young gun Ryan Emmerick.
It was only one of two top-grade matches that survived this week's rain - Queanbeyan and Ginninderra managed a delayed start out at Freebody Oval with the former posting 213 batting first.
Mark Solway (52) and Esam Rahman (51) were the pick of the Bluebags' batters, despite solid bowling performances from William Perkins (5-47) and Jak Willcox (3-40).
In reply, a dogged unbeaten 60 from Bradley Thomas and a 26-run 10th-wicket stand weren't enough as Ginninderra fell for 152 with 9.3 overs left.
Eastlake looked to be going the better on their home deck as Oliver Blaney-Brown and Vusimuzi Sibanda put on a quickfire 44 for the opening wicket to kickstart their run chase, but no one was able to hang around long enough in the improving conditions.
"We were a little bit off," Eastlake captain Adam Tett said.
"We probably let them get 20 or 30 too many, and from the batting side it was just some poor shot selection. It's a learning experience hopefully and we move forward. It's disappointing but that's cricket."
Emmerick wasn't handed the ball until later in the innings, and the off spinner immediately went to work, dismissing Tett for 23. He finished with 4-19 off his five overs, before James Martens (3-34) finished things off in the 40th over.
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"The boys are ready to just get out there and prove ourselves," Emmerick said.
"We haven't had the best of results the past few years but this year the boys are getting around each other and it's looking good."
Power said a disciplined lockdown regime had laid the platform for round one.
"Ironically, being in lockdown, we were able to go training with two people so there was actually a lot of training and hitting going on in small groups," Power said.
"It was good to come back and have a dig."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
